


The Darkness Overwhelms

by MagicPatio



Series: The Darkness [2]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Fenris Force, Found Family, Gen, Good Family Vibes, Honestly get a therapist people, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, Major Original Character(s), Mutant Powers, Mutants, Other, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stepford Cuckoos - Freeform, Stress, They're not okay, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29536152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicPatio/pseuds/MagicPatio
Summary: Part two of The Darkness Ignited.Andy and Lauren left The Mutant Underground to look for answers six months ago. They went to New Orleans to find answers about their family and their powers. Mia has been looking for them, following leads for months. John's been helping her to keep distracting himself from his grief. He was still mourning Clarise but he was getting through it, slowly. Esme found happiness with Leah, she was still trying to find her place in the Underground but she was getting through it. Lorna and Marcos missed their daughter, they wanted to be with her but they couldn't, not yet.Jace Turner was still looking for The Mutant Underground. He was so close to finding them. He was on Andy and Lauren's trail. It was only a matter of time before he found them. The Inner Circle was quiet, too quiet. They were up to something, The Underground just couldn't figure out what.*I do not own any of The Gifted characters or storylines, only the ones that I wrote and my OCS.*
Relationships: Andy Strucker & Lauren Strucker, Lorna Dane & Andy Strucker, Lorna Dane & John Proudstar, Lorna Dane & Marcos Diaz & John Proudstar, Lorna Dane/Marcos Diaz, Marcos Diaz & John Proudstar
Series: The Darkness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138283
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1 Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> *First Chapter published!!!!!!! I'm so excited to share this story with you, I have so much planned!! I have three more parts finished so I'll keep up with my normal upload schedule of posting on Thursdays and sometimes Mondays. I hope you enjoyed this part. Leave any character arc or plot suggestions in the comments!*

Mia's Pov

We were in the meeting room and had yet another meeting. We've been having them a lot in the past six months since Andy and Lauren left.

"Okay, so the Inner Circle has been silent for five months. Why are we still paying such close attention to them?" Cameron asked. He had come back from Baltimore a couple of weeks after Andy and Lauren left. I asked him to help me look for them so he had to sit in on the meetings with me to know what's going on.

"Just because they don't seem active doesn't mean they aren't," Lorna said.

Cameron sighed. The adults started talking about whatever their theory was about what the Inner Circle is doing. I get that it's important and stuff but I wanted to share the stuff that I wanted to talk about. I think I found a lead about Andy and Lauren.

"There have been more reports of dead people coming back to life. So the Inner Circle is still active; they're still there, just hiding." Marcos said. "I've been reading some of the reports from Sentinel Services that we can find and all of the ones that say that people that were dead came back they just assume that they were never dead. The government isn't aware of this person at all."

"No duh, the government knows basically nothing," I said. Seriously they know nothing.

"Maybe we should tip them off about that mutant," Caitlin suggested.

"And risk them finding us? No way" Esme said.

"That's fair," Caitlin said. She turned to me, "Have you found any new leads about Andy and Lauren?"

"Yes actually. Cameron and I checked out a lead the other day and that gave me a couple of leads to look into. I'm going to start looking into them later tonight." I said.

Caitlin nodded. "That's good."

She's been worried about her kids ever since they left. It's understandable, but sometimes she hovered over me when I was trying to find leads. It got annoying but I dealt with it because she's their mom, but she gets overly worried a lot.

The others finished up the meeting and John came over to me. "Hey, do you need help checking out the leads?"

"No, they probably won't actually lead anywhere. It's fine. It probably won't lead anywhere anyway, they rarely do," I said. John had been coming with me to look for Andy and Lauren ever since he came back after helping out in Baltimore.

"Okay, I have to go help Marcos with getting some new refugees from the Morlocks," he said as he left.

"You know I don't even know why we're still looking for them. They clearly don't want to be found." Cameron said as we got up.

"I know but we can't give up. They're my friends and the longer they stay out there the closer Sentinel Services gets to catching them. Besides what about their mom? I don't even know what she would do if we just stopped looking." I said. I wanted to find them but sometimes it just seemed impossible.

John's Pov

I was in one of the vans with Marcos heading to pick up some new refugees from the Morlocks. Erg had a group to send over to us.

"John, how are you doing," Marcos asked me while he drove. I hadn't been okay since Clarise died. I've been getting through it but some days it was all just too much. Even though she has been dead for well over a year now, it still feels fresh.

"I'm fine, brother," I said.

"You sure? You've been more distant than usual lately," he said.

I sighed, "Marcos really, I'm fine. It's just with everything that's happened the last few months, everything that happened with the spy, then Andy and Lauren leaving. It's all just a lot to comprehend."

Marcos pressed his lips together and focused back on the road. We drove in silence for the rest of the way.

Erg greeted us at the entrance to the tunnels, "John, Marcos. The people that want to go to the Underground are just within the tunnels."

"Thanks, Erg. I'll go get them and load them into the van," Marcos said walking into the tunnels.

Erg nodded, "I need to head back into the tunnels. There are a few people who chose to stay with the Morlocks and I need to take care of them."

"Erg, I know that Andy and Lauren talked to you before they left. I tracked them to one of your tunnel entrances. I lost the trail after that. Where did they go after they left?" I said stopping him from leaving.

Erg stopped, "They came to me, for supplies and nothing more."

"Erg, they must have told you where they were going. You have to know something," I said.

"They didn't tell me where they were going. Now you better go, Marcos is done loading your new people into your van. I must get back to my people. Good luck finding your friends," Erg said before walking back into the tunnels.

I punched the wall next to me, "Damnit."

Marcos walked over, "John what are you doing?"

"He knows something. He has to," I said.

"Maybe, but even if he does he's not going to tell us. Let's just get back to headquarters. You can meet up with Mia before she goes out again," he said.

I deflated, "Fine."

Marcos led me back to the car and this time I drove as we headed back to headquarters.

Esme's Pov

I smiled as Leah gently kissed me, "You know you are so beautiful," I said.

Leah laughed, her laugh was so pretty, "There is no way I can even compare to you. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," she said. I was laying down on my back while Leah was laying gently on top of me. I smiled as she started to tickle me.

I squirmed and giggled. I wriggled till I could grab her hands, and pushed her onto her back pinning her under me.

"I love you," I said smiling. I leaned down and kissed her.

"I love you too," Leah said smiling, she glanced at the clock, "You know we should probably get back to doing our jobs. I have to make sure all of the little ones are in bed."

"Or we could not do our jobs and stay in our nice, warm, cozy bed," I said, moving her red hair out of her face.

Leah laughed, "We could but you should check in with Mia before she leaves."

I sighed and laid on my back next to her, "I know, I know. She'll probably be gone for a couple of days. Someone should know where she is, just in case."

Leah smiled and got up. She put on her favorite white and gray flannel, she looked like a goddess in it. She put on her jeans and came over and kissed my forehead. "When I come back I expect you to be talking to Mia," she said before she walked out.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," I said as she closed the door.

I smiled, she was beautiful. She distracted me from everything that has been happening. She always gave me momentary happiness on the hardest days. Sometimes it was hard in the Underground but Leah always made it so much better.

I loved her. She was my best friend and girlfriend. I smiled thinking about her as I got dressed. I headed out to go talk to Mia, smiling as I thought about the fun we were having before we, unfortunately, had to get up.

Lauren's Pov

I was sitting in the car waiting for Andy to get the rest of our stuff. I was still not totally healed from getting stabbed so Andy didn't let me do much.

We needed to move on. The cops were slowly figuring out where we were. We needed to do something first, we were here for a reason. We were trying to find answers about our family, our powers, everything. We were so close, but the cops were too close to figuring out where we were. 

Andy threw the few bags of stuff we had in the back then climbed into the driver's seat. He still wasn't letting me drive.

"You know you could just let me drive, right," I said.

"No, you're still recovering from getting stabbed. You're not driving until you can walk longer than thirty minutes at a time." Andy said.

I rolled my eyes, "You got stabbed too."

"And my injuries weren't nearly as bad and they are mostly healed," he said.

"You can still only drive with one hand. It's not safe." I said.

Andy laughed, "Oh, and driving when you can't use your core muscles is safe?"

"I hate you," I said, crossing my arms.

"Yup, I'm your little brother, you're supposed to," he said poking me in the arm. "Besides we're almost there so it doesn't matter."

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. We were in New Orleans. We drove past one of the above-ground cemeteries that were scattered throughout the city. They were so beautiful in a strange, creepy way.

We got to the alley behind where we were headed. It was a jewelry shop, the owner had an Instagram page that I saw. One of the necklaces seemed familiar somehow. Like an instinctive feeling, like I'd seen it before, even though I'd never seen that necklace in my life. Andy felt the same, so we figured that we should probably check it out.

I got out of the car and walked to the corner of the building with Andy following me. I peeked around the corner, there was a security camera on the other corner of the building, pointing at the door.

I used my powers to try to break the camera lens. It was hard, if I didn't do it right people would notice that we were here.

"Can you hurry? There are too many people on the street," Andy said looking around us nervously.

"Well, I'm trying to stop a camera from seeing us, or do you want me to just skip this step and get caught?" I said.

Andy rolled his eyes. "No, but you could do it a little faster."

I sighed and made the lense implode just enough so that It wouldn't record anymore. "I'm done, let's go."

I pulled my hood up and walked into the store with Andy behind me. It was a really pretty shop, with four tables in the center and displays all along the walls. It was small but felt full.

Andy and I started looking through the display cases trying to find the necklace we were looking for. I looked through the side cases, my eye eyes scanning the jewelry. The pieces varied from old-looking new looking brand new. I walked up to the counter's display case, this one was locked. You couldn't just open the glass to take out a piece like the others. Of course, this was the case that the necklace was in.

I walked over to where Andy was and pulled him over to where the case the necklace was in.

I studied the necklace, it was beautiful, it had a crest on its center. A crest of a wolf, it seemed so familiar, gently rested my hand on the glass as I studied it.

"Beautiful necklace isn't it?" The old lady behind the counter said.

I looked up startled, "Uh, Yeah, it's very pretty."

I looked at Andy and he was looking at one of the other customers in the store, the customer kept glancing at us. We needed to go, but I wanted that necklace.

I turned to the lady behind the counter, "How much is it?"

"Oh, this necklace, it is an antique very expensive, 400 dollars," She said. I looked at Andy, we didn't have close to that amount of money.

The shop owner continued ignoring our surprised faces, "It was sold to this shop when I was still a young woman, watching my father run the shop. My father died soon after due to mysterious circumstances and I took over the shop."

I looked at the lady curiously, "Why are you telling us this."

"Because no one has shown interest in that necklace since it came here," she paused, "You two seem so familiar have we met."

"Nope, and sorry about this. Lovely shop you have." Andy said before using his powers to shatter the glass. People screamed. I grabbed the necklace pausing to apologize to the lady. An alarm started bringing and people were running out of the shop.

I turned to Andy, "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it was fun."

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah well now people know who we are. We have to go."


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is fun and you get to see Mia do some investigating. You also get to meet Genevieve. (I love Genevieve)

Marcos's Pov

I walked into Mia's room. She had taken over one of the small offices on the first floor as her bedroom and workspace. She had been helping us a lot looking for Andy and Lauren so she needed a little extra space. She was good at this kind of stuff. I had been jokingly suggested that she should be a private investigator for the past few months. She always just rolled her eyes and asked if I really thought someone would hire a mutant to be their private investigator.

Mia was standing at her whiteboard writing something down. Her room was a mess with papers scattered all over the floor and desk. She had a guitar leaned up against the back wall. Clothes were thrown all over her bed and were stuffed into a backpack.

"What in the world are you doing?" I said standing in the doorway.

"Packing," she said, not looking up from the whiteboard and continuing to write.

"I don't know it seems to me like you're writing stuff on your whiteboard. New lead?" I said.

"Actually it's an old lead, just new information," she said, taking a paper off the whiteboard and putting it in her bag.

"It's almost midnight, can't you leave this until morning?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"No, I can't wait. If I wait I might miss my window," she put more stuff in her bag and took a picture of the whiteboard, and went to the computer on the side of her desk and started typing on it.

I sighed, "Mia you've been at this for months. You need to take a break."

Mia rolled her eyes and the printer next to the door started going, "I'm not the type of person to take breaks. Now will everybody just stop pestering me, Esme and John already had basically this exact conversation with me. It's getting old," she said while getting whatever she was printing and putting it in her bag.

"They're just worried. When was the last time you slept?" I said walking over to her whiteboard

"Don't remember," Mia said, grabbing one of her guns off her desk and putting it in her bag along with some extra rounds.

"You know if you don't sleep for 72 hours you are considered insane," I said, turning to face her.

Mia rolled her eyes and zipped up her backpack, "I slept yesterday Marcos. Now I have to go." she said and started to walk out.

I blocked her path, "Why don't you sleep until morning then go. Also, why do you have guns, not your bow?"

"No, I have a very small window that I can slip in and do what I need to do and guns are easier to conceal than a bow. Now I seriously need to go, Marcos," she said going around me.

"Where are you even going?" I asked.

"New Orleans," she said, smiling as she walked out. 

Lorna's Pov

I was doing some paperwork at my desk. I'd been going through news reports looking for anything that might lead to Andy and Lauren so far I hadn't found anything.

"You know I just came from telling Mia to go to bed and now I seem to need to tell you that you need sleep as well," Marcos said as he walked into our room.

"I assume Mia did not, in fact, go to bed," I said. I heard Marcos sigh and I turned around to face him and smiled, " And I am going to go to bed. I'm just finishing up some stuff."

"Didn't you say that yesterday too and when I woke up you were still sitting at your desk?" he said walking over.

I rolled my eyes, "Yes, but I don't plan on doing that tonight."

Marcos pulled me up out of my chair and kissed me, "Yes well, I think you've done enough work. Besides, your aunt sent another picture of Dawn and I won't let you see it until you stop working," he said.

I laughed, "Quite the manipulator you are."

"I did learn from Esme who is a master at it," he said. I smiled and let him pull me over to the bed.

"I love you," I said smiling.

"I love you too," Marcos said as he sat down on the bed and pulled out his phone. I sat down on the bed next to him and looked at his phone while resting my head on his shoulders.

Marcos pulled up the picture of Dawn. She was a year and a half old now. She was dressed in this cute outfit of a white top and a pink overall dress with white leggings. I smiled, she looked so cute. I wanted to go through the screen and love her to death.

"I love her dress. It seems like something you would have picked out," I said.

Marcos laughed, "Yeah, it is. Although I would have picked a different color, probably green."

I laughed, "Hey, green's my color, I like pink on her; it makes her cheeks even rosier."

"You can share your color with your daughter," he said rolling his eyes.

I sighed dramatically, "Fine, but she can't have my shade of green."

Marcos laughed, "Deal."

I looked back at the picture, "She looks so big, I wonder if she's walking yet."

"Maybe we could go up to Maine to visit your Aunt and see Dawn. It's been pretty quiet around here and it's been over a year since we've gotten to see her. I'm sure if we left for a week they wouldn't miss us too much," he said.

"I don't know Marcos. As much as I want to see Dawn, I just... Stuff has been good around here for too long. It's been way too long. I'm almost waiting for something to go wrong." I said.

"Hey, we could plan to go and if something goes wrong we could cancel. Dawn is safe and it is a big risk to go see her. It could be and if everything goes right, kind of thing," he said.

"Let's just wait until Mia gets back to decide anything. She'll probably be gone for a couple of days so that'll give us more time to think about it." I said.

"Okay, We'll decide once Mia gets back," Marcos said, kissing me. 

Mia's Pov

I sat across the street from a half-destroyed jewelry store. It was crawling with police and Sentinel Services. I was eating a beignet trying to blend in as a tourist. So far it was working, no one was paying any attention to me.

There were cops everywhere. They were talking to people who were walking on that side of the street. Probably asking them if they heard anything or saw anything whenever time happened. Which by my guess was probably 14 hours ago. I got the tip that it happened 13 hours ago and generally my information is slightly delayed.

The cops started looking around the street. A few walked over to my side of the street. I looked down at my food hoping they didn't come to talk to me. My hopes were quickly crushed.

"I have some questions relating to the jewelry store over there." One of the cops said.

I kept my breathing steady and looked up at the cops, "Okay,"

"Did you see, hear, or witness anything strange last night?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm staying on the other side of the city," I said tapping my finger on my beignet. It was a nervous tick of mine, I hoped the cops wouldn't notice.

"Why are you here all alone," the other cop asked, studying me.

"Well, I heard about this restaurant's amazing beignets from a friend who lives around here and had to try them for myself," I said smiling hoping they went away.

"Aren't you a little young to be out to eat all by yourself?" she said.

"I look young, but I can assure you I'm 16," I said, a little honestly makes people believe the lies a little more.

"Where are your parents?" the first cop asked.

"They're across town, they wanted to go on a walking tour and I thought that was boring. So I ended up here," I said, hoping I wasn't saying too much. Getting people to believe your lies is hard. There is a fine line between saying too much and not saying enough.

"Okay," The second cop said.

"So what is all that mess over there about?" I asked, hoping to find out something before I would have to do my own snooping.

"Some mutants attacked it, we're just trying to find out if anyone saw anything." The first cop said.

"There is a hotline, call it if you hear anything about the attack." The second cop said.

She started to leave to go talk to someone else while her partner talked, "Sorry to bother you."

I nodded smiling slightly. Once they walked away I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god they believed me.

I finished eating my beignets and paid for them. I walked down the street for two blocks before crossing the street and turning around to walk towards the jewelry store.

When I got about a block away I moved into the shadows and hid using my powers. I was listening to what the cops were saying. The ones I was listening to were clearly Sentinel Services. 

They were talking about who was buying the food after the shift for a while before the topic switched. One of the officers started talking about something actually useful to me, "Are we going to have protection on that little old lady who runs the shop? She lives down on St Anne's Street, right?"

"I don't know. The boss man is talking to her now. I guess he'll decide." The other responded.

Well, that cleared up what I was doing next. I walked a couple of blocks away from the jewelry store before heading into an ally and letting my powers disperse. I got the information I needed. I pulled out the map I had packed from my bag and looked for St. Anne's street. It wasn't too far from where I was. I could probably get there before dark if I hurried. Maybe I could even get there before the cops talking to the lady left. I didn't know the exact address so I hoped they would still be there.

I pulled up the hood on my red jacket and started walking. It took me almost an hour to get to the street and the sun was just setting.

I turned the corner and luckily there was still a Sentinel Services car outside one of the houses. I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to search every house on this street.

I slowly walked to the house and hid a few houses down the road across the street so I could watch for when they left.

I waited for about thirty minutes before they walked out and it took them another ten minutes before they got into their car and drove away.

I walked to the front of the house hidden by the shadows swirling around me like mist. I peeked into her front window and saw a little old lady peacefully knitting on a rocking chair. I took a deep breath and stepped into the shadows, coming out of them just inside the window of the house.

"Please don't scream," I said as I let the shadows disperse back to where I borrowed them from.

The lady laughed, "Oh, why would I scream? I was figuring someone would come sooner or later trying to find their friends."

I took a step back, "You knew I was coming?"

"Of course I did, What kind of seer would I be if I didn't?" The lady said, setting down her knitting and smiling up at me, "I knew someone who wasn't helping the police would surely want to know information of the mutant attack that happened to me earlier."

"How?" I asked curiously.

The lady smiled kindly, "Because I am a Mutant, I know things. Now my power has dulled quite a bit as I got older but I still knew that you, my dear, would be stopping by sooner or later to pick my brain about your friends who so rudely destroyed my shop and took my things."

"Yes," I said surprised. I wasn't expecting her to be a Mutant.

"I figured as much." the lady said.

I took a deep breath hoping I could trust her, "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's Genevieve dear, now what would you like to know?" she said.

"What did they take?" I asked nervously, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

"Well, there is a story to go with that one. Yes, you see, I knew who they were from the minute they walked into my shop. I knew their great-grandfather, well not really knew, more that I met him a few times. He entrusted my father with his sister's necklace after she died. It hurt him too much to see it, so he gave it to my father for safekeeping, unfortunately, my father passed away shortly after due to an attack on a mutants rights protest by police." Genevieve paused wiping away a tear before continuing, "I knew sooner or later someone would come for the necklace but I didn't expect them to be so violent about it."

I took a deep breath absorbing what she just told me, "What did they do when they were in your shop? I couldn't get close enough to see."

"The boy shattered the glass on the display where the necklace was kept, the girl grabbed it. Then they destroyed a couple more things, to not make it obvious what they took. The girl half wanted to kill me because she thought I knew too much but the boy wouldn't let her. Apparently, I was too old to remember anything."

Lauren wanted to kill a little old lady just because she was in their way. I didn't know that she would even consider doing that, "Do you know where they went?" I asked.

"Before they left the shop, after the whole debacle about whether or not to kill me, the girl said that they needed to go or the roads out of the city to Hopewell, that's in Tennessee by the way, would be blocked. So I assume that's where they went," she said.

"Thank you," I said. I paused thinking of something I should ask before I left, "Did you tell the cops any of this."

"Parts, I don't want them to know I'm a mutant now do I," Genevive said giggling.

"Did you tell them where they went?" I asked.

"Yes, unfortunately, that was part of what I told them, along with a general description of what happened," she said.

I sighed and went to leave, "Thank you for telling me this."

"Oh and one more thing before you leave. Your friends, they're on a dark path. You need to correct that path or the world will end up in chaos and destruction. I do hope you find them before Sentinel Services does. I fear if they get to them first that might only solidify their path." Genevieve said.

I nodded. That was just the icing on the cake of bad news surrounding Andy and Lauren today. I took a deep breath and left, starting to head to the nearest place I could buy a bus ticket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Genevieve. She is based on my grandmother who died a year and a half ago so she is really special to me. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter.


	3. Chapter 1 Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part of the first chapter!

Mia's Pov

I had just gotten off the bus in Hopewell, Tennessee. The bus stop was in a deserted area with only a small gas station near it. I sighed, small towns in the middle of nowhere suck. Especially when it's past midnight and you haven't slept in 24 hours.

I sighed and started to walk over to the gas station to get a bag of chips or something to eat. I walked in the shadows staying out of the light until I had to go into the light of the streetlamp to get inside the gas station. I walked over to the aisle with snacks and started looking for whatever the cheapest item was.

I had just selected my bag of off-brand chips when I heard voices coming from the aisle behind me, "I just got a text telling us the location, they're at the town's park."

"The Frost's better not be wrong about this or I'm gonna be pissed, they made us come all the way out here."

The Frost sisters? That's never good.

"Relax, they'll be here. Besides, maybe we'll get to figure out how they destroyed one of the people you brought back."

"Honestly I'm not too keen on figuring that out. They destroyed her, like disintegrated destruction. Everyone I bring back should be immortal until I release them."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe I'll actually get to kill someone today. I haven't gotten to do that in a while."

Both voices laughed.

I couldn't pinpoint it but the last voice sounded familiar. I had no idea who they were but if the frosts were involved it couldn't be anything good. They could be after Andy and Lauren, this is where Genevieve said they would be. I just needed to get to them before anyone else.

They said that whoever they were after was at the town's park which wasn't too far away so I decided that was a good place to start looking. Even if they weren't looking for Andy and Lauren maybe I could help whoever they were after getaway before they got to them.

I checked out then started walking to the park while eating my chips. What, I was hungry.

Lauren's Pov

"We could go to Atlanta, they wouldn't expect us to go back there," Andy said, laying down on a picnic table. We were in a park pavilion, talking about where to go next. We couldn't stay here during the day so we needed to get out of here before the sun rose.

"Atlanta is exactly where they would expect us to go. We should go back up to the midwest. No one is looking for us there." I said leaning against a pole.

"The cops are looking for us everywhere. There is nowhere we can go that they won't be looking for us," Andy said dejectedly.

I sighed. He wasn't wrong, it's just, sometimes I really didn't want that reminder. I fiddled with the necklace that we took from the jewelry store. I was wearing it. The chain was short and the pendant hit only about two inches below my collar bone. I ran my finger over the crest, the texture of it was slightly comforting.

I heard a noise coming from the woods behind us, I turned around scanning the trees for movement. I noticed a patch that was darker than the rest. I couldn't make out anything in that section.

"Andy, where's the flashlight?" I said. Andy handed me the flashlight and I shined it into the trees where the darkest patch was. There was an area that just wasn't getting brighter, even as I shined the light directly on it.

Andy came over and knelt next to me, "Do you think..."

"Maybe," I said briefly, shining the light over the rest of the woods just to be safe.

I shined that light back at the dark spot and watched as the darkness disappeared and Mia stood there smiling.

"You know, I never thought I would actually find you two," She said walking over.

"Well you did, congratulations. Now I have a feeling you won't let us leave without you," I said leaning back against the pole.

"Well, that was the original thought was going to happen but that changed when I saw that you destroyed a freaking jewelry store. Bad plan by the way," Mia said. Andy and I looked at each other, I thought that was a fairly good plan compared to some of the others we came up with.

"Okay, how did you even find us in the first place?" Andy said, crossing his arms.

"An old lady named Genevive told me. She was very nice," Mia said, waving her hand dismissively, not bothering to explain further, "And you want to know what else she told me, she told the cops where you were before she told me. Which means we have to get out of here now."

Andy and I looked at each other and quickly started grabbing stuff.

"You could have led with that," I said, scrambling to grab my backpack.

"Sup losers," a female voice behind me said. I turned around quickly and saw a girl standing there. The girl was probably around Andy's age and had purple hair and black roots. There was another figure just behind her that I couldn't quite make out.

"Who the hell are you?" I said turning around. Why did people just have to keep showing up? We were left alone for six months, why were they all finding us today. Oh right, probably because we attacked a jewelry store. That was most likely the cause.

"Kaylee?" Mia said shocked.

"You know who this is," Andy said. I moved closer to him, I had a feeling we might have to fight our way out of here. We always seemed to have to fight our way out of stuff.

"Yeah, I went to school with her. I thought she got arrested," Mia said, fidgeting uncomfortably with the sleeves of her red jacket.

"As if I would get arrested, have you met me," Kaylee said.

"No, actually, I have not, please elaborate on who exactly you are and why you are here," I said.

"Well, my name is Kaylee and I'm here to kill you," she said. She raised her hands and blue-violet colored electricity started sparking around her fingertips.

"Great, just great," Andy said sighing, "Yet another person who wants to kill us."

The figure behind Kaylee came out of the shadows and raised a gun. I quickly put up a shield in front of us before he could pull the trigger. Andy pushed the figure backward with his powers, causing him to fall off of the pavilion. 

"Well, that's cheating. You're not supposed to fight back." Kaylee said, looking slightly annoyed. Mia had gone somewhere hidden in shadows, presumably somewhere safer, hopefully at least.

Kaylee raised her hands and lightning surrounded them, she reached out a hand and a bolt of lightning shot out from it. It moved too fast for Andy or me to react and by the time I even realized what was happening it had hit Andy directly in the chest, pushing him against a pole hard.

I felt the impact faintly because of our connection. I tried to get to him but out of the corner of my eye, I saw blue-violet light heading towards me. I felt a hand grab onto my arm and pull me backward so the lightning hit the table behind me.

I turned and saw Mia standing there looking frantic, "Thank you." I said before trying to get to where Andy was.

Kaylee tried to hit me again but the lightning was stopped by a cloud of shadows in front of me. I looked over to Mia, her hand outstretched clearly trying to stop the electricity. She created another shadow in front of herself and the lightning that had gone into the first one shot back at Kaylee narrowly missing her.

"Thanks again," I said quickly before I ran over to Andy while Kaylee was distracted.

I got there and I could see burn marks all over his shirt. He was unconscious.

I glanced over to Mia. Kaylee kept shooting lightning at her. Mia kept dodging it or redirecting it but I didn't think much longer she could keep that up for much longer.

I looked back over to Andy. He needed to wake up. We needed to get out of here and fast, if what Mia said was true and the cops knew where we were they would be here any second.

"Andy, wake up," I said, shaking his shoulder. He wasn't waking up. I pressed my lips together and tried again

"Andy!" I said a little louder. I didn't want to be too loud or else I would draw Kaylee's attention.

He stirred a little, but he wasn't fully conscious.

I jumped as I heard gunshots right behind me. The second figure had stepped into the light and was holding a gun. They had chin-length back hair and were standing next to Kaylee.

Mia was behind a table muttering, "not cool dude, not cool," as she regained her footing after jumping from the gunshots.

I focused back on Andy. This wasn't good. I nudged him gently again. He groaned a little this time, getting hit with lightning probably hurt a lot.

"Andy please wake up," I said. He opened his eyes but then closed them again. Great, so he was awake but not really. As I said before, this wasn't good.

I took a deep breath and looked around, we couldn't stay here and Mia couldn't keep up with fighting Kaylee and whoever the other person was. They would tire her out eventually.

I formed a disk and shot it at the second person's gun, cutting it in half. Mia smiled and redirected a lighting blast that Kaylee had just shot at her to hit the person, knocking them backward. She then pulled out a gun I didn't know she had and fired twice, hitting Kaylee in the arm and leg.

She walked over to where I was as I heard sirens start to sound in the distance, "We need to get out of here."

"Yeah," I said pressing my lips together. I had no idea how we were going to get out of this one.

Andy coughed and moved a little, "Ow."

"We need to get out of here," I said. I looked at Andy, "Can you walk?"

"Maybe," he said, attempting to push himself into a sitting position. He ended up giving up and leaning against me.

"I'm gonna take that as a no," Mia said looking around. The sirens were getting closer

"He has to be able to. We have to get out of here, the cops are closing in." I said. I managed to get Andy standing but he was heavily leaning against me and had his other hand on a table.

"I'm fine." And said, even though he clearly wasn't, he was barely conscious. I had no idea how he was still standing.

"You're not, but whatever we don't really have time for this," Mia said as she went over to help.

She helped me half drag Andy into the woods. We didn't get far enough before Andy collapsed even with Mia and I helping him. He was breathing really hard. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes.

I didn't know what to do. We weren't strong enough to carry him. I took a deep breath and looked at Mia, she was looking back where we came gripping her gun.

"Mia, could you teleport us out of here?" I said. I couldn't think of anything else to do.

Mia looked down and shook her head, "I'm sorry but I can't. If I hadn't fought Kaylee and whoever that other person was using my powers maybe I could have." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to teleport three people."

I looked back at Andy, he had passed out again. There were no other options, "Mia could you teleport two people."

She looked at me, "But then I'd be leaving someone behind."

"I know, but if you teleport yourself and Andy out of here then maybe I could hold them off long enough to maybe get away," I said standing up.

"Lauren that's suicide," Mia said.

I looked back at Andy, "I know, but I have to try. I have to make sure Andy is safe. I can't let anything happen to him."

Mia pressed her lips together. "Lauren I don't want to leave you."

I unclasped my necklace ignoring her, "Take this, give it to Andy. If the cops do get to me before I can get away, I don't want them to get it." I said handing it to her. I looked into the woods, I could hear the cops closing in.

She looked at the necklace and nodded, "Fine, I will. I'm so sorry I can't do more."

"It's not your fault, now go, before they get here," I said.

Mia walked over to Andy and I watched as darkness surrounded them. When the shadows disappeared they were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe.

I turned to face the Sentinel Services officers starting to run through the trees. One saw me and started firing. I put up a shield blocking the bullets. I used my disks to hurt them and disarm them. I kept doing it over and over just trying to last as long as I possibly could but it wasn't enough. Eventually, I got too tired, I was slow. One of the officers shot me in my thigh and I fell screaming, a searing pain going through my leg.

I tried to keep them away from me but I wasn't strong enough, it hurt too much. I felt a needle go into my neck. I understood what was happening, they were sedating me. I tried to keep fighting but I just couldn't. My arms got heavier as the sedative started to take over. They put a collar around my neck.

I couldn't fight them anymore. I slipped into darkness. I couldn't fight it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *So yeah. That happened. Also sorry if this chapter is bad I really struggled writing it. But anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!*


	4. Chapter 2 Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of what happened in the last chapter on the underground's side of things.

John's Pov

Mia had run into headquarters, black blood streaming down her face from her nose, saying she needed help. She explained what happened, Andy was still unconscious, she needed help. She didn't even know what happened to Lauren after she left.

I was walking down the hallway, heading to the medical room. Caitlin had been looking after Andy there. Mia said he was conscious at the park after he got hit for a little but he hadn't woken up since they got here. Caitlin thought that he had a concussion, along with getting hit with lightning.

I turned a corner and saw Eva, one of the new refugees standing in front of the meeting room door.

"John, I was meaning to talk to you." She said as she saw me.

I brushed past her, I didn't have time for this, "I can't right now Eva."

"I just had some questions about how everything was run." She said running to keep up with my pace, "It won't take long. How do you make sure the cops don't find us? How do you get supplies for everyone? How do you know where to find mutants to help? How do you know that you can trust everyone here?"

I stopped walking and turned to face her, "Eva I'm sorry but I don't have time today to answer your questions. I'm sure someone who had been here for a while would love to. Now I have to go." I said before walking away.

I glanced back at her as I headed to the medical room. She was still standing where I left her glaring at me. I shook my head, I needed to focus.

I saw Mia standing outside the medical room. She walked over when she saw me, "Andy still hasn't woken up but I found something about Lauren. She got arrested, the news is having a field day with it."

"Well, now we know what happened to her. Can you find where she's being held?" I asked as I peeked into the medical room. Caitlin was sitting in a chair next to where Andy was laying, still unconscious.

"I can try, but I doubt that the cops would let any articles be published about where she is being held. They know that Andy will go after her," she said.

"I know, but we have to try right," I said.

"Right," she said, giving me a small smile before she walked back into the medical room.

Mia's Pov

I was sitting in the medical room on a chair in the corner of the room. I was going through articles trying to find where they were holding Lauren after she got arrested but I hadn't found anything yet. There were thousands of articles and it had only been a few hours. Going through each article was going to take days. Especially because it seemed like two more articles were published every time I finished reading one.

"Find anything yet?" Caitlin said stopping pacing for a minute.

"Not yet. I might find something, but don't get your hopes up." I said as I finished reading an article.

"Okay, just let me know if you do," she said pressing her lips together.

I nodded and went to go click on another article. This one was titled, 'One of the terrorists responsible for destroying Sentinel Services headquarters arrested.' I got halfway through the first paragraph before I had to stop. It was just so aggravating to read a bunch of people calling your friend a mass-murdering terrorist. I mean, It was true, but it was still annoying. 

I sighed and turned off my computer. I needed to take a break or else I would go insane. I pulled out the necklace that Lauren gave me before I teleported. It was beautiful and it seemed like it was made out of gold, pure gold. If it was as old as Genevieve said it would have to be or else it would have been tarnished by now.

I heard Andy cough and start to wake up. I got up and put the necklace back in my pocket.

"Andy, are you okay? How do you feel?" Caitlin said instantly next to her son.

"Where's Lauren?" he said sitting up quickly, his eyes wide.

"You should lay back down," Caitlin said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"What happened? Mia?" Andy said looking frantically between me and Caitlin

"Okay, breath," I said gently, putting my hand on his arm.

"Where's my sister?" he said as a light exploded behind me.

I jumped and looked at the glass on the ground. I looked at Caitlin, pressing my lips together. "I'm sorry. She got caught." I said turning back to Andy.

"What?" Andy said, his voice shaking.

"I'm sorry, you were unconscious, we were cornered and I wasn't strong enough to teleport all three of us. Lauren told me to get you out of there. I just barely could. I'm so sorry." I said quickly a tear falling down my cheek. Say those words out loud, it was like a punch to the gut. I failed.

"No," Andy said, shaking his head, his breathing speeding up. I glanced at the side table. The stuff on it was shaking slightly.

"Andy, You need to relax," I said, trying to calm him down.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and put his hands on his head whispering, "no," over and over again.

"Andy, calm down," Caitlin said trying to pull his hand away from his head.

"Just go away!" He said, throwing his hands down.

I felt an invisible force push into my chest making me stumble backward a couple of steps. Caitlin had been pushed back into her chair. I looked at her.

Andy looked at Caitlin and me, "I'm sorry." he said quietly his voice still shaking.

"Andy, it's okay. Just take a deep breath." Caitlin said gently moving forward and putting a hand on her son's arm.

Andy just started crying and leaned into his mom and just started sobbing into her shoulder. I took a deep breath, grabbed my computer, and walked out, closing the door behind me. No one else needed to see that, it was a family matter.

Lorna's Pov

"I can't believe that Lauren got arrested," Marcos said, laying on our bed.

"I know. Why did they even go to that jewelry store in the first place? That's what led the cops right to them," I said pacing.

"They're Andy and Lauren, when do we ever know why they do what they do," he said as he rolled over to face me.

I sighed as my phone rang. I glanced at the number, it was my Aunt's. I quickly answered the phone, we only called if something was wrong.

"Lorna, you need to get Dawn," she said as soon as I answered.

"What why?" I said quickly. Dawn was safe with her, she wasn't safe here.

"Sentinel Services are going door to door looking for mutant sympathizers. One of my neighbors was brought in for questioning last week. Dawn's hair has been coming in and there is a green streak. They'll know." she said. I took in a breath and looked at Marcos.

"Okay, we'll come to get her," I said. I took a breath, how do we even take care of a child here. We don't have any supplies.

Marcos looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. I mouthed at him, 'I'll tell you in a minute.'

"Don't come into town, I'll meet you at Hannaford supermarket, that's a couple of towns over, so it won't raise any suspicion. They'll just assume I'm a grandmother taking her granddaughter out for the day." my Aunt said quickly. I could tell she was pacing back and forth from the sound of her voice. She sounded panicked.

"Just lay low, I'll text you when we're almost there," I said before I hung up the phone. I took a deep breath and looked at Marcos who was sitting up now staring at me.

"What happened? What's wrong?" he said his voice shaking slightly.

I took a deep breath before explaining, "My Aunt needs us to come and get Dawn, Sentinel Services is moving too close to her."

"Okay, when do we leave," Marcos said, getting up.

"As soon as we're packed," I said, already starting to throw stuff in a bag.

Andy's Pov

I walked back into the room Lauren and I had shared before we left. It looked exactly the same as it had when we left. The only thing different was that Lauren wasn't here.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mom said from behind me.

I took a deep breath and turned around to face her, "I'm fine." I said, trying to convince myself that it was true.

Mom studied me, "You know it's okay to not be okay, right?"

"I'm fine," I said sternly. I just wanted her to leave me alone.

"Andy..." she started.

"I'm fine!" I said as one of the lights in the lamp next to me exploded. I looked at it and sighed, "I'm sorry. I just really need to be alone right now."

She looked at me and pressed her lips together then sighed, "Andy, I'm just worried about you. I haven't seen you in over six months and with what happened with Lauren-"

I cut her off before she could continue, "Just go away Mom. I don't even want to be here, just leave me alone."

She sighed but relented, "Okay fine, I'll be in the infirmary if you need me."

She walked away and shut the door behind her. I sat on my bed and took a deep breath. I tried not to think about Lauren. If I did I... I didn't think that I would be about to do anything except curl up in a ball and cry.

I tried to steady my breathing but I just couldn't. I glanced at the stuff around me, it was starting to shake violently. My breathing started to speed up and I started to panic. I pressed my arms against my body, my powers needed to stop. I tried to make them but the more I thought about it the more violently stuff was shaking.

I jumped as a knock sounded on the door. I took a deep breath and went to go answer the door. I opened it and saw Mia rocking as she waited.

"Mia, um, now isn't really a good time," I said glancing behind me, something close to me was still shaking but it seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Oh, it's fine. I just wanted to give you this," she said as she handed me the gold necklace that Lauren and I got from the jewelry store.

I took it and looked at Mia shocked, "How did you get this?"

"Lauren gave it to me before... before I teleported us out of there," she said fidgeting with her sleeves.

"Thank you," I said looking at the necklace. Lauren would know that if she got caught the cops would take it from her. She didn't want it to get taken away from us after we spent all that time trying to find it.

"No problem." Mia said, "I'll leave you alone now."

Mia walked away. I closed the door and went back to sit on the bed looking at the necklace. It was warm to the touch. A tear fell onto my hand.

As I looked at the necklace I decided that I was getting my sister back. I didn't care what I would have to do, I wasn't leaving her alone to get tortured. Whatever they were doing to her, it was so bad I couldn't feel her anymore. I needed to find her.

I put the necklace on and tucked it into my shirt. I grabbed the bag that I had had with me when we were attacked and started to go through it. I needed to make a plan. I wasn't going to give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know, I'm annoying for making you wait to find out what happens to Lauren but I promise it will be worth it.


End file.
